Back and abdomen bracing garment



Dec. 29, 1959 s. LUTSKY 2,918,920

BACK AND ABDOMEN BRACING GARMENT Filed July 16, 1958 INVENTOR, Sidney Lutsky M WMW United States Patent BACK AND ABDOIVLEN BRACING GARMENT Sidney Lutsky, Memphis, Tenn.

Application July 16, 1958, Serial No. 748,832

4 Claims. (Cl. 128-426) This invention relates to a back and abdomen bracing garment.

More particularly the invention pertains to an undershirt or similar undergarment having an upper portion formed of conventional stretchable fabric and a lower abdomen and back bracing elastic portion to give body support to relieve tired back and abdominal muscles and to prevent back strain, pulled ligaments and disc dislocation.

Specifically the invention is disclosed as an under garment, for men or women, having a conventional upper portion formed of stretchable rib-knitted or other usual undergarment material and a lower portion formed of elastic material, such as two-way-stretch cloth having rubber filaments woven or knitted into the fabric, having a vertical zipper breaking the circumferential continuity of the garment to facilitate putting on and taking off the garment, having crotch straps for preventing upward creeping of the garment, and having a pocket for receiving a pad for applying pressure if and as desired to the hollow of the back.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a'dual-purpose undergarment of which the upper portion serves as an undershirt or brassiere and the lower portion functions as a back and abdomen bracing supporter.

It is another object to provide such a garment having a zipper for making and breaking the circumferential continuity of the elastic portion of the garment to facilitate putting on and taking ofi.

It is a further object to provide a garment of this type with crotch straps to prevent upward creeping of the garment.

It is yet another object to provide such as garment with a pocket located and adapted to receive a pad for applying supporting pressure to the hollow of the back.

It is the overall object to generally improve the design and efiiciency of undergarments of the type herein described.

The means by which the foregoing and other objects of the present invention are accomplished and the manner of their accomplishment will be readily understood from the following specification upon reference to the 1 accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the undergarment of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of a modified (ladies) form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the garment shown in Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings in which the various parts are indicated by numerals, Figs. 1 and 2 disclose a combined'undershirt and body-bracing garment as for men, the same being generally designated by the numeral 11., Garment 11 comprises an upper undershirt portion 13 of rib-knitted or other conventional undershirt material made of cotton, wool, rayon, mixed-fiber yarns,

etc. Shirt portion 13 is shown as having its arm and neck openings anti-ravelly bound with stitched-on tapes 15 (the conventional sewing machine stitching not being shown).

The body-bracing lower portion 17 of the garment is formed of stretchable material of known construction and desirably cut so as to have greater vertical dimensions in the back than in the front of the garment, as shown, being provided with an upwardly projecting tapered extension 18 of the bracing portion 17. The parts 13 and 17 are sewed or otherwise joined along their abutting edges. The body-surrounding band formed by elastic portion 17 is desirably broken along a vertical line which may be conveniently located mid-abdominally. The end edges of this band are provided with mating halves of a conventional zipper or other closure 19 fastened thereto by having its tapes stitched to the zipperattaching and garment-reinforcing tapes 21, which are sewed both to the zipper tapes and to the end edges of the elastic band formed by portion 17 proper. A patch 23 is sewed to the garment at the upper end of zipper 19 to serve as a stop for the zipper and also to prevent tearing of the undershirt at the patch-reinforced point where the greatest strains would occur in putting on or taking ofi the garment with the zipper open.

A pair of crotch straps 25 of elastic or non-elastic tape are desirably fastened to the lower edge of portion 17 to prevent undesirable upward creeping of the garment. Straps 25 are stitched to the lower edge of garment portion 17 at their rear ends and may be detachably connected thereto at their front ends, as by snap fasteners 26. It is also desirable to provide a pocket on the inside of the rear part of garment portion 17 as by sewing thereto a patch-pocket cloth panel 27, the upper edge of which is hemmed at 27H but is not sewed to the garment, thus leaving the pocket open at the top for insertion and removal of pads (not shown) of various sizes and resiliency for varying the back-supporting pressure applied by the pads.

In the ladies garment species of the invention disclosed in Figs. 3 and 4, the numeral 31 generally designates the combined brassiere and body support. Garment 31 comprises an upper portion 33 of generally conventional construction and formed of any suitable fabric. Portion 33 is provided with the usual breast-supporting and shaping cups 35 and with garment-supporting shoulder straps 37,

herein shown as non-adjustable but which obviously could be made adjustable as by the use of slide buckles in known manner. if desired. The rear ends of straps 37 are shown as being (optionally) bifurcated and as being attached (as by stitches not shown) to the upward vertical extension 39A of the lower elastic body-supporting portion 39 of the garment 31, next to be described.

As in the first-described (mens) species, the garment portion 39 is formed of conventional elastic fabric, preferably the two-way-stretch variety. In both species the shapes and relative dimensions of the upper and lower garment portions may be varied considerably from those disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

In the ladies species of Figs. 3 and 4 the zipper desirably extends the full, length of the front midline of the garment for greater ease in putting on and taking oif. This garment also desirably has crotch straps 43 to prevent upward creeping, and it may, if desired, having incorporated thereinto a pad-receiving pocket (not shown) similar to the pocket formed by patch 17 in Fig. 2. Garment portions 33 and 39 are joined at their mating edges by stitching or other conventional means (not shown).

The mens garment of Figs. 1 and 2 is put on like an undershirt, that is by extending the hands upwardly through the garment and outwardly through the arm holes, the zipper having previously opened and the crotch straps unfastened at their snap-fastened ends. The gar-- ment is next raised above and then lowered over the head to bring the shoulder straps into contact with the shoulders. Further downward pulling on the lower edge of the garment portion 17 brings said portion into abdomenencircling position. The free ends of crotch straps 25 are now brought forwardly and upwardly through the crotch and fastened to portion 17 by snap fasteners 26. The zipper 19 is closed as the final step, The garment is removed by repeating the foregoing steps in reverse order. If a pad is to be used in the pocket formed by panel 27, it is best inserted before the garment is put on.

The ladies garment of Figs. 3 and 4 is put on by stepping through the crotch straps (with the zipper opened previously) and then lifting the garment to bring elastic portion 3? up to the abdominal region. The arms are next inserted through the strap-defined arm holes. Finally the Zipper is close The foregoing steps are reversed in removing the garment.

i claim:

1. in a body and torso encasing undergarment adapted to provide means for bracing and supporting the abdomen and back of the wearer, an upper fabric garment portion for embracing a substantial portion of the chest area of the wearer, a lower garment portion of elastic sheet material for girdling the abdomen and back area of the wearer, said lower garment portion including an integral upwardly projecting back section formed of said elastic sheet material which taperingly extends upwardly from the back part of said lower portion into said upper garment portion, the edges of said upwardly projecting section and of said lower garment portion being connected to adjacent edge portions of said upper garment portion, a pad-receiving pocket carried by the back part of said lower garment portion below said tapering upwardly projecting section for engaging the lower back area of the wearer, closure means extending at least across the depth of the front part of said lower garment portion for opening and closing of said lower garment portion during donning, dothng and wearing of said undergarment, the integral elastic sheet material of said girdling lower garment portion and its upwardly extending tapering back section bracingly and supportingly engaging the abdomen and back area of the wearer, and means for preventing upward displacement of said undergament during wearing thereof.

2. in a body and torso encasing undergarment adapted to provide means for bracing and supporting the abdomen and back of the wearer, an upper fabric garment portion for embracing a substantial portion of the chest area of the wearer, a lower garment portion of elastic sheet material tor girdling the abdomen and back area of the wearer, said lower garment portion including an integral upwardly projecting back section formed of said elastic sheet material which taperingly extends upwardly from the back part of said lower portion into said upper garment portion, the edges of said upwardly projecting section and of said lower garment portion being connected to adjacent edge portions of said upper garment portion, a pad-receiving pocket carried by the back part of said lower garment portion below said tapering upwardly projecting section for engaging the lower back area of the wearer, closure means extending at least across the depth of the front part of said lower garment portion for opening and closing of said lower garment portion during donning, dofling and wearing of said undergarment, the integral elastic sheet material of said girdling lower garment portion and its upwardly extending tapering back section bracingly and supportingly engaging the abdomen and back area of the wearer.

3. In a body and torso encasing undergarment adapted to provide means for bracing and supporting the abdomen and back of the wearer, an upper fabric garment portion for embracing a substantial portion of the chest area of the wearer, a lower garment portion of elastic sheet material for girdling the abdomen and back area of the wearer, said lower garment portion including an integral upwardly projecting back section formed of said elastic sheet material which taperingly extends upwardly from the back part of said lower portion into said upper garment portion, the edges of said lower garment portion being connected to adjacent edge portions of said upper garment portion, a pad-receiving pocket carried by the back part of said lower garment portion below said tapering upwardly projecting section for engaging the lower back area of the wearer, closure means extending at least across the depth of the front part of said lower garment portion for opening and closing of said lower garment portion during donning, doifing and wearing of said undergarnient, the integral elastic sheet material of said girdling lower garment portion and its upwardly extending tapering back section bracingly and supportingly engaging the abdomen and back area of the wearer.

4-. in a body and torso encasing undergarment adapted to provide means for bracing and supporting the abdomen and back of the wearer, an upper fabric garment portion for embracing a substantial portion of the chest area of the wearer, a lower garment: portion of elastic sheet material for girdling the abdomen and back area of the wearer, said lower garment portion including an integral upwardly projecting back section formed or said elastic sheet material which taperingly extends upwardly from the back part of said lower portion into said upper garment portion, the edges of said lower garment portion being connected to adjacent edge portions of said upper garment portion, closure means extending at least across the depth of the front part of said lower garment portion for opening and closing of said lower arment portion during donning, dofiing and wearing of said undergarment, the integral elastic sheet material of said girdiing lower garment portion and its upwardly extending tapering back section bracingly and supportingly engaging the abdomen and back area of the wearer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 832,279 Smock Oct. 2, 1906 1,110,226 Payne Sept. 8, 1914 1,303,330 Karlin May 13, 1919 1,979,540 Gershen Nov. 6, 1934 2,053,165 Pruett Sept. 1, 1936 2,481,291 Coleman Sept. 6, 1949 

